To Monica:Â Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, you ignorant, self-centered moron.Â [Edited to strike that out – I realize it could be seen as a personal attack.Â And I sincerely do not want to perpetuate what Monica started.]

“I do wonder why though no other black author, other than Monica can ever be arsed to bring these issues up in Romanceland.”

If you are talking about the segregated shelf space at the local book stores?

In most B&N I have been there is also a handy dandy Gay Section right next to the AA Section. I often go there whenever I don’t end up going to the local Gay Bookstore.

The only problem I have with it is I find sometimes the books I am looking for in the Gay Section get stuck out on the floor with the regular fiction due to good sales and such.

Honestly, I have never heard any Gay Writer speak against being represented in the Gay Section. They are usually happy to have a space where they prominently displayed separately and can be easily found.

I am not too young to remember how Gay People were so proud “we” had our own spot to find books by and for us there. In other words “we” asked for that and “we” got that.

So I am all for having the “option” that writers can instead get their books put into the main fiction section but in most stores that means you get shelved together in a small space with best seller books are gonna get far more prominent placement than yours.

Seems to me, I would rather be singled out and get my own self space with my peers and a greater chance of having my books prominently displayed.

On one of the top shelves right next to the front door was The Tin Star by J.L. Langley. That’s a Loose-Id book by the way. Not to mention the front of the store had a framed poster with the cover in the window.

As far as I know that’s big time. First time I have ever seen one of the eBook publishers front and center in a well known mainstream Gay Bookstore. Things are changing Big Time.

I disagree Teddy. Romance should be with romance. I don’t want other sub-genre’s in with romance. A la LL Foster and her horror whatever. No HEA get out of romance. Otherwise it should be there.

So many people don’t know about the ‘AA section’ of some stores. I didn’t. When I was called racist for not reading AA romance I wasn’t aware I wasn’t. And in fact didn’t know I had, I do, but since I won’t look up race, list it out and send it over to monica for approval she thinks it is ok to call me racist.

And I have issue with that. If it wasn’t me it would be someone else. I have issue with that.

It is a real issue and I find it laughable she can stand there and cry why won’t anyone discuss it with me when people have tried. Repeatedly. You can list links about race and about things that have nothing to do with race that she has completely fucked the conversation with randomly calling people racist.

When asked to prove I am racist she chops up a quote from aug 2005. When asked to prove it from my blog she can’t. If we have any authors rec’ed, reviewed or guest we are throwing her a bone.

I refuse to start looking for romance recs by race. I will not read inspy romance and I will not read monica jackson. The rest is up for grabs.

But that doesn’t matter does it. The truth means shit to her and she wonders why no one wants to talk to her. poor baby…

LOL As long Told and Tim end HEA the book can be in romance for all I care. Even if they are are black, as karen says a romance is a romance is a romance. I do not think there should be an AA section for romance. Then again I have never thought it was ok. And for gay romance… well most men I ask (and I have asked many) say what the hell is that. So it seems to me the market is women… sooo where would you put it?

Iâ€™d love to see all the different flavors of romance lumped together in one big happy fucking rainbow at the bookstore. It would make for much quicker shopping.

Yes. I feel like I went on about this ad nauseum when the topic came around last, but it just makes no sense to me. The AA and Gay sections seem to be at the end of the literature, where I rarely venture. Genre readers tend to stick with their genres, and it makes no sense for certain authors not to be with their genres. The opposing argument assumes that only people of those groups would want to read those books. This argument I find to be prejudiced in a number of ways. Not only is it assumed that people of a particular group are the only audience for the particular literature, but also that they’d only be interested in reading authors from the same group. And I’m sure that plenty of AA romance/mystery/fantasy etc. readers read non-black authors as well. So either way romance/horror/fans of all persusaions have to travel around the store, and that seems weird.

I don’t look at an author’s race when I buy her books either. Of course I am, you know, totally blind so whatever. Which also explains why I don’t go into brick and mortar bookstores much, even though I read voraciously.

Also, I was having fun with my little side thread about gimp romance and how much what I’ve read of it sucks. Now where can I go have that rant? You surely don’t expect me to use my actual blog for that sort of nonsense, do you?
*sigh* I’m off to read the comments that blossomed overnight, if I can manage to do that without my head exploding.

katiebabs
on October 24, 2007 at 8:31 pm

Hey originally I wasn’t down with gay romancec, but lately the ebooks out there are crazy with them! M/M, M/F/M, M/M/M/M, F/F/M…
well you get my point and the funny thing is, I do enjoy reading them just as well as hetroromance, as long as it is written well that is.
And I did really enjoy the movie Brokeback Mountain which was a beautiful love story IMO.

Gwen,
I made it through about 100 more comments on that thread, then realized nobody’d said anything new for quite some time, and now I’m in search of a shiny object. Also, I hated the ending to Brokeback Mountain. I also tried to read the original short story and couldn’t get past the overly grandiose prose.

Reading Annie Proulx can be like wading through some very picturesque mud.

I thought the story was more romantic than the movie because you got to read what they were thinking which made the ending way more tragic and really did what the movie should have done and concentrated more on their feelings for each other.